We're reading this, aren't we?

Mr Dorsey and his fellow social media barons might well be the butt of a lot of jokes and judicial scrutiny. Nevertheless, we're fortunate enough to click random links on Twitter, aren't we? In the middle of a pandemic. Yep, the counter isn't exactly ticking as fervently as it did around last March, but we're far from over with Covid. 

Thankfully, we survived. Many thrived. But be in zero doubt that this was a result of privilege and luck, so don't get too proud about being alive. Agreed, some capitulated to frustration, some sought solace in food, some in Netflix, alcohol (or both), and some found their drug in the stock market. Oh, hi fellow investor/trader/newly unearthed stock market enthu cutlet.

Here's the deal. Since there are so many of us who recently decided to trust in the mad rush that is the stock market, I thought why not document the process and learn a thing or two about investing. I've been a bit aggressive with 'investments' for some time now. And by that, I mean that I try and save over 50% of my income and put it into investments of some sort. Initially, I thought I was being Warren Buffet by putting money in mutual funds left, right and centre. Hmmm... then I discovered equities. Shares. Hell, who was I kidding?

The mutual funds helped, to be honest. I got myself a seat in an MBA college without asking a penny from pappa. How that panned out is a debate for another topic. Just that it pays to save. This really wise woman I dated for some time told me this "If the person doesn't have plans to save at least 20-30% of his/her income, they need to reassess their life plans." Oh, we met well after I started 'investing' investing, but the lady and I were in agreement. Back to stocks... But before that, here's a song for you.

Mum worked in a public sector company for "35 years", she says proudly. Never bought a stock. Somehow, there's fear associated with the stock market, which I feel is perilously unfounded. Yes, you can lose money, but then, don't be dumb and buy stocks when they are trading at their peak. Especially not if you suddenly got a bout of the FOMO.

Aha, before we get started with the meat of things, none of this is investment advice. Yours truly is no expert on the stock market. I'm simply the friendly neighbourhood idiot who saves up cash to tinker around and make it grow. That's because money is good. And... as Gorden Gecko says in the movie Wall Street "Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind."

Everything you read on this blog, I request you to take it with a pinch of salt. In fact, that holds true for anything you find on the world wide web. Take in what you like, try out if it works and what doesn't and then do what suits you. One can't stress this enough. Ok, enough faff. Since the intro's gotten long in itself, I'll start out with one strategy that has held me in good stead. Ok, let's make it two. Number one...

Don't be in a hurry to book profits and cash out. 

I'll give you a personal example that will make you cry at my stupidity (not exactly, but anyway). I spotted shares of Tata Motors when they were trading at ₹67. This was sometime in April. Please correct me if I get the timeline wrong. It's been a while. At ₹67, the stock was golden. I thought to myself why is no one talking about the stock? As you'll notice, the stock is somewhere north of ₹320 bucks and is all the rage in your popular pink papers. 

I slowly started piling up the stock in my own small capacity. About 3-4 stocks at a time, roughly every second day. Financials were in a bit of a quandary back then for reasons I'll probably get into some other day. Or, maybe not. Anyway, I kept accumulating the stock. It hit ₹110 around July-August and that's when I stopped buying more. It hit ₹130 somewhere around October-ish (again correct me on the timeline) and kept creeping up. Still no noise around the stock. In about another month, it hit ₹150 which is when it came into the public eye.

I was happy after having made some 80-odd percent profit on my money. I was slow with putting in money because I was starting out and was in no hurry. But heck, 80% on about 10k was neat money. I cashed in. Five months later, I see my mistake. I cashed in at ₹150. The stock has doubled since then. What could have been... In short, let the market frenzy grow your wealth. But be smart to not be part of the frenzy. That neatly brings me to Number Two. 

If you cash out and the stock soars, it's ok. 

I follow this absolutely animated gentleman called Manoj Kumar Jain on Youtube. He puts up a video every single evening, summarising the stock market's shenanigans for the day. He says something rather often in Hindi that I shall paraphrase. "Your job is to drink your fill when the flow of the stock market is strong. If you try to drink the entire river, you'll drown. So take your fill and leave the rest for the other fish." Again, be greedy. But don't covet another's profit. Or wife. Or cow. Definitely not cow, given the political climate nowadays. Interestingly, it was cattle and not wife in the original 10 commandments.